The idea of taking your office from running on hard copies and paper files into the digital age may seem daunting. Where do you even begin? First, you want to take an honest look at where you are being effective as a company and where you are spinning your wheel unnecessarily. As a result, you’ll see that there are several pain points worth looking into in order to identify the most critical document management software needs for your business.

Look for Excess Paper

The most obvious sign of a need for document management software is excess paper. For instance, you want to know where files and forms collect and tend to stay. This includes places like excess cabinets and office spaces. Obviously, they would be more secure digitized. Transitioning paper documents into an online filing system is a great first step to streamlining. With easy scanning, appropriate security, and simple retrieval digitizing your paperwork is a starting point.

Look for Lost Time

Lost time often reveals itself when you look at the ways your staff spends their time. For example, is your staff spending the bulk of their time fulfilling business related tasks or brainstorming? Unfortunately, your staff often gets waylaid by tedious tasks that could be digitized. Your staff can be better utilized in so many other capacities. It’s time to throw out the annual office paper shredding days or tie up days dedicated to filing. Additionally, your staff won’t get caught up in tracking down paperwork that was misfiled. Taking inventory of where your employees spend time can provide a great starting point for your document management software needs.

Look for Compliance Requirements

Many industries are tasked with a revolving door of compliance requirements. Staying on top of changing security and legal needs within a company can be a full-time job. You may find yourself working overtime to keep up with increasing compliance requirements. If so, then it’s time to adopt document management software. Knowing compliance changes are coming, is not enough. You are also required to get new forms filled out and turned in to keep from being fined. With online document software build with industry specializations, your compliance upkeep will dramatically decrease the strain on you and your employees.

Look for Multiple Users

Are there multiple staff members in your industry that require access to the same documents and/or functions? Whether those employees are located in different branches or down the hall from each other, online document management software dramatically decreases the hassle of multiple employees trying to access the same documents. You won’t need multiple copies of the same forms to satisfy everyone’s need. The ability for each employee to login and gain access to the files they have clearance to work with helps to alleviate paper chasing within your company.

Look for Customer Access

Does your industry allow for consumers to access some piece of their information? Are you tracking purchasing history, preferences or are they following the cycle of processing and billing? Whatever the reason, a consumer’s ability to hop online and answer simple questions themselves help you reduce and streamline your customer service. Building portals for customers to have 24/7 access increases customer satisfaction and frees up your employees to focus on other things.

Whether you are trying to free up your employees or create a user-friendly interface for your customers, transitioning to document management software can be an undertaking. Some struggle knowing where they need to focus their efforts first. If you take an honest inventory of your current operating system’s pain points, it’s easy to find places to implement document management systems. This will help your office run smoother and more efficiently.